The present invention generally relates to a call forwarding service. More specifically, the present invention relates to call forwarding to the forwarding location without hairpinning the call through the destination location while still allowing split billing.
Known call forwarding services allow a call initiated at an originating location to be forwarded from the destination location (usually specified by the called number) to the forwarding location (usually specified by the called party). Typically, the type of call forwarding allows the call to be routed so that the call is connected between the originating location to the forwarding location without being routed through the destination location, i.e., without the call being xe2x80x9chair pinnedxe2x80x9d through the destination location.
Such known call forwarding services without hairpinning, however, cannot allow the billing for the forwarded call to be split between the calling party and the called party. Ideally, the calling party should be billed for the portion of system resources involved in routing the call between the originating location and the destination location, while the called party should be billed for the portion of the system resources involved in forwarding the calling from the destination location to the forwarding location. In other words, the calling party should not be billed for the entire call when the called party is responsible for the forwarding of the call to a forwarding location different from the destination location.
Known call forwarding service without hairpinning, however, cannot provide such split billing between the calling party and the called party. This shortcoming is due to the fact that once the call has been rerouted without being routed through the destination location, no effective mechanism exists to determine the apportionment for the used network resources, and the corresponding apportionment of the billing between the calling party and the called party.
A call is forwarded by connecting the call between an originating location and a forwarding location without connecting the call through a terminating location. The originating location is associated with a calling party. The terminating location is associated with a dialed number. The terminating location and the forwarding location are associated with the called party. A first portion of the call is billed to the calling party and a second portion of the call is billed to the called party. The first portion of the call is between the originating location and the terminating portion. The second portion of the call is between the terminating location and the forwarding location.